Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Beetle anniversary party is more crazy than ever

OVER 4,000 enthusiasts are making their way to the Baltic resort of Travemünde to celebrate Beetles of all generations in what has been called 'The Sunshine Tour'. As well as plenty of original cars there is also plenty of fancy dress for the owners and the cars themselves, while there competition for the overall prize of Most Beautiful Beach Beetle. Volkswagen has been an official partner since 2005 and will be present again over the weekend of 15-17 August with a number of special vehicles.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.

DAB radio in cars and the digital switchover

Britain's motorists face a £1 billion+ bill to fix their car radios so they work after the digital switchover, a CAR Magazine investigation reveals. The Government plans to switch off the FM signal and move the UK's broadcasting industry to DAB digital radios - mirroring the switchover from analogue to digital televisions. The official target for the digital radio switchover is 2015, but many commentators predict that date will slip as there is a great deal of work to be done before Britain is ready.